From soundtracking the hip Target commercials to now touring all over the world, STRFKR — an electronica indie pop band consisting of Keil Corcoran, Shawn Glassford and Josh Hodges from Portland, Oregon — returns to Ybor on July 8 to play some old songs plus new tunes off their most recent album, 2016's Being No One, Going Nowhere.
Frontman Hodges says “the album is a total success because [he] wanted an album that was conducive all the way to playing live”.
At first glance Being No One, Going Nowhere sounds like it could be the title of a lost college student’s autobiography or quite possibly the meanest insult anyone could give, but the band had its own idea of what this eerie yet vague title stood for. Its “darkest” album to date (don’t worry, the album is still mostly dance songs) means a lot to the lead singer Josh Hodges who says that he writes the albums mostly by himself and gets inspired a plethora of ideas.
Read our Q&A below, and get more information on the show via local.cltampa.com.
What was the main driving force and motivation for this new album?
The inspiration is a double meaning for me. First part was the title Being No One, Going Nowhere is inspired from this Buddhist book. I like the idea of what the author meant—well what I think she meant—a lot of human suffering comes from this idea of trying to reaffirm our sense of self/our ego. So I really like the idea of just being alive is enough. Animals know how to do it! Like dogs and cats that haven’t been abused that are just chill seem like they’re pretty comfortable just being themselves and I think there is something great in that. It’s not the idea of giving up on doing anything but the relationship of doing things changes, rather than losing your shit if something doesn’t go your way.
Are there any other themes in the album?
The theme that goes along with it also comes from this time I ended up at a BDSM club for this big party with all different types of people and body types and it was a really healthy social environment. There was no drinking, no actual sex and it was just a really cathartic and cool experience for me. I have never been to something like that before or experienced anything like it, but my values still aligned with a lot of the other attendees’ values. Being around that and watching people be freaky and feel no shame felt healthy.
Could you explain that a little more?
The people who go to these BDSM parties get the opportunity to have the experience without labels or ideas about themselves, this ‘Being No One’ or having no ‘self’, when you’re being whipped you’re not thinking ‘oh, did I do my taxes?’ Life is about enjoying the little things, people barely ever take the opportunity to be in the moment, some of the nicest moments in my life have always been little things like walking with my dog, eating a really good meal or hanging out with a friend. It gets easy to get caught up in everything else then miss out on all the little things.
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One of the songs off the album “In the End” just had a music video come out. Not only did the video debut a drag queen heist, it also featured the band with full makeup, wigs, and dresses on. Some of your recent performances have included at least one person in a dress or wig, what is the meaning behind dressing in drag? What about this album's aesthetics required or lacked femininity?
It’s nothing that deep for me. I grew up around that, my uncle was a Liza Minnelli impersonator at a cross-dressing club and he has been there for like 20 years and I spent my 21st birthday with him. It works for me because I have never loved performing and I used to be really shy, which has changed a lot from doing it over the years but part of it is just fun to like take on a persona and be somebody else for a night. I mean, why not? Anyone can dress however they want or be who ever they want to be. We stopped doing it for a little bit though because we don’t want people to expect only that when they come to see us.
Listen to the LP below, and get more information on the show via local.cltampa.com.
